


What are you hiding?

by Adeline_Wrights_Fanfiction



Series: Love's Garden AU [3]
Category: RWBY
Genre: But it's still non-con and it was traumatizing to write, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Childhood Sexual Abuse, The non-con is a non-explicit poem in the beginning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-15
Updated: 2019-11-15
Packaged: 2021-01-31 04:55:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21440566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adeline_Wrights_Fanfiction/pseuds/Adeline_Wrights_Fanfiction
Summary: After a night of sexual intimacy, Weiss has another nightmare of being raped. Ruby does her best to console her shaken partner, and together they work their way through it. (Takes place immediately after "With Each in Fullest View")
Relationships: Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee
Series: Love's Garden AU [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1545730
Comments: 18
Kudos: 89





	What are you hiding?

**Author's Note:**

> The poem at the beginning of the story is titled Restraints and was written last night.  
The story itself is an attempt to wrest some agency from the damning verse. I hope I’ve succeeded.

_Far be it from me to say that you’re free._  
_What am I hiding? Take a look and you’ll see._  
_It’s a looking-glass, love. It will ask you the same._  
_What are you hiding? Your mask reeks of shame._

The spirit of ice, both shackled and chained,  
Shook twice her restraints before settling again.  
_I hide nothing from you,_ she spat, her voice cold.  
_It’s all in plain sight. You don’t see ‘cause you’re old._

_Quite right,_ the shade said.  
_All I see is your form, quite naked and bled._  
_What I wouldn’t give_  
_To see you splayed out in bed._

_Fuck you,_ the sprite spat,  
Her legs quivering in fear.  
_Don’t you touch me again._  
_Don’t you come a step near._

The shade howled with laughter.  
He cackled and jeered.  
_Oh please, do your worst!_  
_You are powerless here._

The looking-glass was wide and plain.  
It sat in a frame, sat reflecting her pain.  
The spirit of ice took stock of herself  
Bruised and quite naked, and quite needing help.

The chamber then darkened.  
The shadow’s light grew  
With a light born of hatred  
And unbridled rue.

_Don’t you dare touch me,_  
The sprite all but cried.  
_Please, not again._  
_I just want to die._

* * *

Weiss awoke to the sounds of her own screaming, arms fiercely covering her exposed breasts, knees pulled close to her chest, legs crossed to hide her bare womanhood. Tears and cold sweat covered her completely, and she shook with tremendous violence.

Her partner stirred almost as quickly as she with the disturbance, immediately set about to soothe her beloved from what she already knew to be another nightmare of sexual abuse.

“Weiss, I’m here—”

“Don’t touch me!” she screamed, huddling further into herself, fear and rage flaring dangerously through the torment in her bloodshot eyes.

Ruby crossed her legs on the bed, shifted back to give Weiss some space, and offered the blankets to her so she could cover herself. The girl did so immediately, shaking with wild abandon from the adrenaline coursing through her veins.

“I’m here, Weiss,” Ruby whispered. “I won’t lay a finger on you without your express permission.”

Weiss could only nod and offer a sidelong glance. “Mhmm.”

“And I’ll wait for as long as it takes with you. But if you need some space – if you need me to leave – I can do that too.”

“No!” Weiss cried, reaching a hand towards Ruby and immediately withdrawing it when she felt the blankets slip down her chest.

“Then I’ll stay,” Ruby concluded. She sat uncharacteristically still in the wake of Weiss’ unceasing tremors. They’ve been through this before. It never became any less terrifying for Ruby, but she had learned that patience was key. If seeing Weiss so shaken was this terrifying for Ruby, how horrible must it be to have actually had the dream? Ruby could only try to imagine, and it never seemed to help.

Weiss cocooned herself in the blankets, leaving Ruby completely naked in the cold of that very same winter night where they shared such an intimate exchange. Weiss had no memory of what had happened in her childhood to cause such lasting trauma, but both girls were certain it involved her piece of shit that passed for a father.

Ruby understood well Weiss’s reluctance to have sex with her. Their relationship had stretched for some time with only the most basic of physical affections, and Ruby had been privy to Weiss’s nightmares together in their shared bed long before they had seen each other naked.

It was an incredible milestone for them both when Weiss had trusted her enough to strip bare so they could shower together. It was more amazing still when Weiss had let Ruby touch her beneath the warm stream of water, their first sexual experience together beginning with a simple show of trust and ending with a passionate tumble about the sheets.

But the nightmares had never ceased. Weiss’s torment was intermittent yet severe. Despite Ruby’s preference to sleep naked on her own, they still both wore pajamas in bed because Weiss was so thoroughly scarred by the unknowable trauma of her past.

These were the thoughts that crossed Ruby’s mind as she gazed intently at her partner who shook and sobbed, inconsolable and alone despite their proximity. The redhead wondered how long it would take this time before the two of them would settle—before Weiss would let Ruby hold her and make her feel safe and loved.

Weiss wondered much the same, but when she noticed her nightgown on the floor beside the bed, she asked, “Do you mind if we get dressed?”

“Of course not.” Ruby hummed, slowly rising from the bed to pick up their scattered garments.

Weiss, for her part, could only sit huddled against herself in the cocoon and rock slowly back and forth. It was only when Ruby appeared at the other side of the bed, dressed in her pajama pants and camisole, that Weiss noticed the offered nightgown and smallclothes, neatly folded and resting on open palms. She reached for them slowly, and once held in her own hands, Ruby stepped several paces away from the bed and faced the opposite wall, allowing Weiss the privacy she needed to dress.

“Thank you, Ruby. You can turn around now.”

As Ruby did so, she found her beloved sitting with her legs tucked beneath her, one hand pressed against the mattress and the other resting limply in her lap. Her generous lengths of snow-white hair cascaded down her back and over her shoulder. Ruby returned to her side at once.

Taking a seat on her side of the bed, Ruby carefully positioned herself so there was space between them, but she could easily reach out to Weiss if she was granted leave. And so she asked, “May I hold you?”

Despite the desolation in her eyes, Weiss turned and gave Ruby that small, lopsided smile that was meant for her and her alone. She shifted so she lay on the mattress, patted the empty space in front of her, and pulled the blankets over them both when Ruby rushed to fill the offered space.

“I’m so sorry,” Ruby began.

“Don’t be,” Weiss whispered. “It’s not your fault. It’s never your fault. You’ve respected my boundaries for years, and you respected them last night. I don’t regret a moment of it.”

Ruby smiled as she carefully wrapped her arms around Weiss’s shoulders and the middle of her back, taking great care that she avoided the more sensitive areas of her partner’s body as she did so.

Weiss, for her part, tucked her head beneath Ruby’s chin, arms held closely against her own chest, as she pressed herself into Ruby as much as she could.

“I love you,” Weiss muttered.

“And I, you,” Ruby murmured back.

Weiss shuddered as she took a deep, shaky breath. Ruby held the girl tightly, tucked the edges of their shared blankets in at Weiss’s shoulder and side, recreating for her that cocoon which she so jealously guarded herself with during bitter nights such as these.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Ruby questioned.

Weiss shook her head ‘no’ against Ruby’s collar, and said, “It was the same as always. I’d rather just let it go.”

Ruby hummed again, and Weiss felt the rumblings of her partner’s chest against her wrists.

“I’m sorry,” Weiss whispered.

And Ruby echoed, “Don’t be. It’s not your fault. It’s never your fault. I may not be able to stop the nightmares, but I am grateful to be allowed to hold you close, to comfort you, when you need it most.”

Ruby could feel tears forming against the fabric of her camisole, and she pressed her partner ever closer.

“Thank you, Ruby.”

The redhead could feel calmness seeping into Weiss’s muscles, felt her still against the warmth and softness of Ruby's embrace. When Weiss finally returned it, pressing her body fully against her partner and wrapping her arms around the girl’s neck, Ruby understood that the worst had passed.

“Back to sleep then?”

Weiss nodded. “Thank you, Ruby.”

Ruby smiled and kissed the crown of Weiss’s head. “Sleep, love. Tomorrow will be a new day.”

“And we’ll face it together.”


End file.
